


The Dragons' Land

by sapphic_phoenix



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Dragons, Gen, Kathryn Janeway meets a dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphic_phoenix/pseuds/sapphic_phoenix
Summary: Kathryn tells Chakotay the story of why she has a dragon egg on a stand in her ready room.
Relationships: Chakotay & Kathryn Janeway
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	The Dragons' Land

**Author's Note:**

> See [this post](https://padd-of-stories.tumblr.com/post/612731555966812160/im-gonna-write-the-story-of-why-janeways-got-a) for a screencap with the egg in question and [this post](https://padd-of-stories.tumblr.com/post/612858499575218176/my-people-drawing-skills-suck-shit-but-heres-a) for a messy drawing of Janeway and adult!Mascot.

“Do you mind if I ask you something, Captain?” Chakotay said.

“Sure.”

“I've been curious about that... artefact you have over there.” He pointed across the ready room to the spherical object on a stand beside the door.

“Oh, my dragon egg,” Janeway replied.

Chakotay paused. “Your what?”

“My dragon egg.”

“You’re serious?”

“Mm-hm.”

“But dragons don’t exist.”

Janeway smiled. “That’s what I thought too. Shall I tell you the story?” At Chakotay's nod, she settled deeper into the couch and sipped her coffee. “Once upon a time, a few years ago on a planet far from Earth...”

Branches slapped her face as Commander Kathryn Janeway bolted through the woods. She leapt over a log and risked a glance behind her. She saw the blue-shouldered figure of Lieutenant Maria Callahan hot on her heels, and behind her the dark shadows of the wild creatures that were pursuing them.

“Janeway to shuttlecraft _Yeager_ , come in!” Once more, her only response was static. “Damn rocks!”

“I can’t… keep running,” Callahan panted, pausing beside her.

“Dammit, Lieutenant, keep going! That’s an order!”

“Maybe the wolves are nice.”

“The wild alien animals that have been chasing us for kilometres and shrieking their rage at frequent intervals? Oh, yeah, of course they’ll be nice.” She grabbed Callahan’s arm in an iron grip and started running again. “Come on. Maybe we can lose them in the rocks up ahead.”

The terrain was steep as the two ran on. The trees thinned out and large, heavy boulders dotted the hillside. Janeway took out her tricorder and scanned around quickly. “I think I see some caves up ahead, but this rock is interfering with all of my scans.”

“Maybe they won’t even come out of the trees,” Callahan suggested.

They paused in their mad dash and looked back. One after another, a dozen hairy, shrieking animals ran out of the woods straight towards them.

“The caves are this way,” Janeway pointed and the two began running for their lives again.

Suddenly, from behind the mountain they were climbing, a large shadow blocked out the sunlight and swooped down towards them. A loud roar met their ears and the two stumbled as they clutched their ears. Behind them, the alien wolves began to whimper.

The large creature set down near them and swung its massive, heavy tail at the wolves, clobbering most of the pack. Several of the wolves charged at the new creature, teeth bared, and the larger beast slammed its front foot down on one wolf’s head, pinning it to the ground. The rest of the pack ran, whimpering, into the forest. The enormous creature picked up the last wolf in its massive jaw and flung it after its packmates.

The two Starfleet officers stood frozen. This new creature was two meters tall at least and easily triple that in length. It had a solid head on its long brown body, four thick legs with sharp claws, a massive, spiked tail that twitched as it watched the two humans, and it had two large, leathery wings on its back. The creature before them couldn’t be anything except a dragon.

A small squeak of fear escape from Lieutenant Callahan’s lips. Janeway blinked several times, but the vision before her remained.

The dragon began to sway, then with a reverberating crash, it fell to the ground.

Janeway’s tricorder was out in an instant. “Its life signs are fluctuating,” she reported softly. “I think it’s injured.”

“So now’s our chance to get away,” Callahan said urgently. “Come on!”

“This… _thing_ saved our lives.”

“This _thing_ is a fucking _dragon_! You know, breathing fire? _Killing humans_?!”

A deep, rumbling murmur emanated from the beast on the ground. Its golden eyes flicked open to behold the two humans hovering nervously nearby. All of a sudden, both their minds were taken over by a vision – they saw a dark cave with a carefully-built nest of rocks and logs, and a single glowing egg. Then, as suddenly as it came, the vision left them. Janeway’s tricorder began to beep wildly.

“Its life signs are fading.”

“Leave it.”

“No!”

“It’s wild and you saw it in action, you know it’s dangerous.”

Janeway tucked her tricorder back into her belt and knelt down next to the beast’s large head. “Hey,” she murmured softly. She placed her palm on the creature’s spiked forehead. “Thank you for saving us.”

The dragon breathed out a shaky breath and lay still.

“Oh look, it’s dead. Now can we go?”

Janeway stood up and faced her companion. “I don’t know about you, but when a creature that saved my life makes a dying request, I do whatever I can to honour that request.”

“It didn’t say anything.”

“It showed me a vision of an egg – its egg. I’m going to find the cave and protect that egg.” And Janeway began to walk further up the mountain.

“Oh for crying out loud. This is _not_ what I signed up for! I wanted to explore the galaxy and study strange geological formations, not play nursemaid to alien babies.” She looked at the rapidly-retreating back of Commander Janeway and sighed. “But I guess that’s what we’ll be doing. Wait for me!”

They climbed in the direction the dragon had come from and swung their tricorders about, trying to find the cave the dragon had showed them. “There!” Janeway said at last. “Just a few klicks away. It’s the only one we’ve seen so far that’s large enough to hold our dragon friend.”

“ _Your_ dragon friend.”

“It saved your life too, you know.”

“And who knows what it might have done to us after that if it hadn’t been injured.”

With Callahan protesting every step of the way, the two made their way around the mountain as the sun sank slowly behind the alien landscape ahead of them. The world was growing dark as they finally stumbled into the mouth of the cave.

“We’ll have to camp here for the night,” Janeway said, scanning the cavernous space around them. “Use your phaser to heat up some rocks so we won’t freeze to death. I’m going to look around for the egg.”

“Aye, Commander.”

Using the faint lights from her tricorder to guide her way, Janeway set out into the darkness. A short way in, her tricorder screen began showing an unusual heat signature ahead of her. She scrambled over a cluster of boulders and logs and found herself standing in the dragon’s nest. Laying in the center of that nest was the egg.

It was larger than an ostrich egg, mottled brown and gold, and glowing faintly in the dark. Janeway knelt beside it and touched a palm to its smooth surface. The egg twitched. She drew back, startled, then touched it again. The egg twitched again. She rolled it over, checking for any damage, then noticed that through the thinner surface near the top of the egg she could almost see the embryo inside. The silhouette twirled and wriggled around through the fluid beneath the surface. It almost appeared to be dancing.

Janeway pulled back from the egg and considered it. It felt warm enough that it probably had its own ability to thermo-regulate, but just in case, she shrugged off her jacket and tucked the egg under it. Pinning her commbadge to her turtleneck, she started back towards her crewmate.

“Did you find it?” Callahan asked.

“Yeah. It’s bigger than I thought.” Janeway sat down next to the glowing rocks and held her hands close to their warmth. “First thing in the morning we’ll head back down the mountain with the egg and try to contact the shuttle again.”

“Wait, _with_ the egg? We’re taking it with us?”

“Like it or not, we’re responsible for it now. I’m going to take care of it.”

“You’re going to raise a dragon as a pet?”

“I doubt something so wild will make a good pet, but its parent is dead. We’re all it has.”

“ _You’re_ all it has. Leave me out of this.”

“Fine.”

The night was cold and the darkness absolute when Janeway woke several hours later. She shivered and felt around for her phaser to reheat the rocks. The glow she ignited in the stones fell across the peaceful face of Maria Callahan and lit up the entrance to the cave they were in. Janeway squinted in the dim light, watching as shadow after dark shadow slinked into the cave.

“Lieutenant, wake up,” she hissed, shaking her crewmate’s shoulder. “There’s something in the cave.”

Janeway stood up, aimed her phaser and fired a blast at the mouth of the cave. The brilliant beam lit up the rocks and revealed the menacing forms of several of the wild wolf-like creatures that had threatened them the day before.

The wolves shrieked and leapt towards their prey. Phaser fire light up the night as the two Starfleet officers fought for their lives. Screams and shouts echoed through the cave. A heavy wolf body ploughed into Janeway, knocking her to the ground. She dug her phaser under the beast’s chin and fired. The point-blank shot silenced the creature for good.

“Commander!” A hand was on her arm, hauling her to her feet. “We need to get out of here!”

“I need to get the egg!” Janeway tore away and ran deeper into the cave. She vaulted the side of the nest and slid down towards the egg. Scooping it up in her arms, she began to climb out of the nest. She heard repeated phaser shots ringing out through the cave and ran towards the sound. “Let’s go!” she shouted.

Using the lights on their tricorders to guide their way, the two ran down the mountainside at a breakneck pace. The egg was firmly tucked under Janeway’s arm as she bolted down the steep incline. She heard Callahan taking pot-shots at the creatures behind them as they ran, but she didn’t stop to look back. Weaving around boulders and sliding down rockslides, they ran as far and as fast as they could.

Finally, they reached the tree line and began twisting between trunks and jumping fallen logs. Every few minutes, Janeway tried her commbadge again, hoping and praying for more than just static to answer her.

She heard the wolves bounding closer behind them. She heard Callahan trip and tumble to the ground. She paused to help her crewmate to her feet.

And then she heard the chirp of her commbadge.

“… to Commander Janeway. Do you read me? Come in, please.”

“I’m here!” she shouted with relief. “Can you beam us up?”

Glowing golden eyes pierced through the darkness, surrounding the two humans. Growls and snarls sounded from every direction, crawling closer and closer.

“Stand by.”

Just when she thought they were about to be wolf food, the welcome tingle of the transporter beam took hold of them and whisked them away from their predicament.

“Perfect timing,” Janeway grinned with relief. “We were about to become dinner.”

“I got worried when you didn’t check in,” the pilot, Ensign Javed Ahmadi, turned around in his chair. “I had to fly into the atmosphere to—What on Earth have you got there?”

Janeway unwrapped the egg from her jacket and set it gently on the floor of the shuttle. “It’s a dragon egg.”

“A _dragon egg_?!”

“Long story short, a dragon died saving us from those wolves the first time and asked us to look after its egg.”

“She’s gone completely mother hen on it.” Lieutenant Callahan moved to take over the helm seat and the ensign obliged.

“To think that dragons are real,” Ahmadi murmured, kneeling down next to the egg. “The xenobiologists will have a field day with that.”

The egg twitched and rolled a little on the smooth surface of the shuttle’s floor. A long, hairline fracture appeared in its shell.

“Did it—”

“It’s hatching!” Janeway placed a palm against the smooth surface of the egg. “Come on out, little one.”

“Oh, thank God,” Callahan muttered. “Now we can set it loose and be rid of it.”

Another crack appeared, then another one. Janeway and Ahmadi held their breath, watching. For a long minute, nothing happened. Then, with an almighty crack, the egg splintered into a dozen pieces. A long, thick snout poked its way out of the shell, followed by a pair of beady eyes, then the long body of a brown dragonling emerged into the world. It kicked its way free of the shell and looked around, eyes wide with wonder. It looked up at Janeway and crawled over to her.

It cocked its head. “Mama?” it whispered into her mind.

“It’s telepathic like its parent,” she murmured. “Hey, little one.”

From its nose to the tip of its tail, the baby dragon was about as long as Janeway’s arm. It was a mottled brown colour all over, with spiky ridges above its eyes, and down its back and tail, and two leathery wings perched on its back. It was slick with fluid from inside the egg and it began to lick itself dry.

Even Callahan was mesmerized by watching it.

“What shall we name it?” Ahmadi asked excitedly.

“Oh, don’t name it,” Callahan moaned. “Then you’ll never be able to let it go.”

The baby dragon ran around the small space of the shuttlecraft, excitedly exploring every nook and cranny it could find. It scampered around the humans’ feet, sniffing at every intriguing new scent it found. It clambered up Callahan’s legs and climbed its way into her lap. It gazed into her eyes and tilted its head.

“Not your mommy,” Callahan said. She picked up the lizard and dropped it on the floor.

“Be nice,” Janeway admonished her. “Come here, little one.” She opened her arms and the baby dragon bounded over to her.

“What are we going to do with it?” Ahmadi asked.

“We can’t beam it back down with the wolves,” Janeway said.

“We also can’t take it back to the ship with us,” Callahan pointed out.

Janeway pondered the creature licking her face with its rough tongue. “We have a few more days of the survey mission. Let’s keep this little guy with us for now, and we’ll see where we are by the time we have to leave the system.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ahmadi said, stroking the creature’s rough hide. “Hey, how about we call this little guy ‘Mascot’? Since they’ll be our little mascot for this mission.”

And so Mascot became a member of the team as their little shuttle flew around the uninhabited system, running scans of the unexplored planets around them. On the two occasions when someone beamed down to gather botanical and geological samples from one of the planets, Mascot accompanied them, running around the alien landscapes with glee, swishing their tail and flapping their wings happily. If they got enough of a running start, Mascot’s wings could just barely lift them off the ground for several seconds before they came in for a crash landing in the long grass.

Eventually though, as all good things do, their sojourn in the solar system came to a close. They flew back down into the atmosphere of the planet where they met Mascot’s parent and landed the shuttlecraft at the foot of the mountain where the cave was located. All three officers walked with Mascot up the side of the mountain towards the cave. They led the tiny dragon over to the nest inside the cave and helped them over the side. Mascot snuffled around the nest area and sat down, whimpering.

“Mama?” it asked them.

“Sorry, little friend,” Janeway said. “Your mama isn’t here.”

She closed her eyes and tried to picture the large dragon who had saved them from the wolves. She stroked a hand down the dragonling’s back and blinked back a tear. This baby would have to grow up alone, and it might be their fault. If the big dragon hadn’t come to their rescue, it might still be alive to raise its child.

Mascot snuggled their head into her hand and purred. She felt a wave of sympathy come from the telepathic dragon.

“See you, little fella. Be safe.” Ahmadi rubbed a finger under the dragon’s chin.

“Bye, Mascot. Don’t die or the Commander’s gonna be really upset,” Callahan said from a safe distance.

“You’re gonna have to fend for yourself out here, little guy,” Janeway said, “but I know you can do it. Take care, and I’ll see you again someday.” With a final pat, she stood up and climbed out of the nest.

Mascot whined and scrambled after her.

“No, little one, you have to stay here.” Janeway watched sadly as it clambered up the wall of branches slowly. “You don’t belong in our world.”

Mascot whimpered and slid down to the bottom of the nest.

Janeway turned away and began walking purposefully away. “Come on. We need to go.”

“Good luck, Mascot,” Ahmadi said.

The three exited the cave sadly and began making their way down the mountain.

“Hey,” Ahmadi said as they arrived back at the shuttle, “we’re doing the right thing, aren’t we? I mean, leaving Mascot like this.”

“It’s a wild creature. It’ll be fine,” Callahan said.

“We don’t have a choice.” Janeway paused to look back as the crew boarded the shuttle to leave the planet. “It’ll be fine.”

“So you just left the baby dragon?” Chakotay asked. “Was it alright? Did it survive?”

“I don’t know,” Janeway said. “I’ve never had the chance to go back. We rendezvoused with our ship the next day and never looked back. I kept its egg, though. We never ended up tossing the shells out of the shuttle, so I glued it back together and kept it as a reminder of our little Mascot.”

“As soon as we get back to the Alpha Quadrant, you should go back to that planet and see if they’re still there,” Chakotay said. “I’m sure they made it and they miss you.”

Years later, a small unnamed vessel slid down through the atmosphere of a planet near the edges of Federation space. It settled down on the surface and a hatch opened in the rear to allow a figure to exit.

Kathryn Janeway stepped down onto the soil of the world she had come to think of as The Dragons’ Land and viewed the mountain before her. Somewhere up there was a cave with a nest that she was determined to find. She had only taken two steps up the mountain when a loud roar made her stop and clutch her ears. A shadow passed over her and a large, brown, winged form set down in front of her. Sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight as the dragon’s head leaned down to sniff the intruder.

Suddenly, the snarl was gone, and a voice sounded in her mind. “Mama?”

“Mascot?”

The dragon jumped up and down excitedly, flapping its wings in joy. “Mama!”

Janeway raised her hand and Mascot pressed their face against her palm. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you well,” she said.

Mascot purred against her hand. “And I am happy to see you.”

Janeway flung her arms around the dragon’s neck and held on tight. She felt one of Mascot’s legs wrap around her back and pull her in close. The two embraced and time stood still as the two friends reunited at last.


End file.
